


Failing to Sleep

by ZDcookie_996



Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Brotherly Love, Fluff, Tired Conor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-12
Updated: 2018-05-29
Packaged: 2019-04-22 01:39:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14297958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZDcookie_996/pseuds/ZDcookie_996
Summary: Conor is the big brother, he's not supposed to be looked after.Reverse of brotherly roles where Jack looks after Conor when he returns from LA struggling with Jet Lag.But there's more to this jet lag than meets the eye.





	1. Failing to Sleep

**Author's Note:**

> I love the Maynard siblings! (Possibly will try and include one shots of Anna also)
> 
> There are lots of Jack so thought I would change it up to write about Conor.  
> I am basing this his recent trip to LA for Coachella

If you asked Conor what it was like to travel back and forward from the UK to LA, he would play it off, say it was not a problem.

He loved being at home but he also loved being in LA. The one thing he hated was all the travelling.

He was currently at Jack's house in bed having not long returned from another trip to America, this time for Coachella. Jack had picked him up from the airport and the minute he had stepped into his brother's apartment he had gone straight to bed. The main issue was that he could not go to sleep. He was tired having not been able to sleep on the flight home and yet he couldn't sleep.

He lay in bed for several hours feeling himself drift but still remained awake.

Around 9 am, he heard clattering coming from the kitchen and immediately know that it was Jack.  
He got up and decided to investigate what his brother was up to. "What are you playing at?" He asked as we entered the living room area. "Sorry I was going to make you breakfast." Came the reply from his brother who was on the floor in front of a cupboard surrounded by various pots and pans. "Idiot." Murmured Conor who went and flopped onto the couch. Jack let him be seeing how tired he was. Although his brother currently had his eyes shut, he could see the bags under his eyes and made a mental note that he would speak to his brother about it later. When Jack had finished making breakfast, he placed it in front of Conor who just frowned making no apparent attempt to eat it.  
"I need to head into town, I have a meeting. The boys want to go out tonight so I said we would meet them at 6 so you can sleep until then." They said their goodbyes and JAck left. Once the door was shut, Conor immediately went back to bed. 

It wasn't until he heard rapid knocking on the bed room door that Conor tried to make the effort to reach over and grab his phone. The current time was 5 pm, an hour before he and Jack would be meeting the boys. "Yeah, I'm coming." Conor got out of bed too quickly that he felt dizzy and realised that not only had he been in bed all day and still not slept properly, but he had not eaten at all. He rushed around trying to get ready and had to fight back the pounding headache that had appeared suddenly and also the tiredness growing in his eyes.   
When he was ready, he left his room only to be met by his younger brother who gave him a lecture about skipping breakfast and then skipping every other meal also. Conor wasn't listening to his brother, he was trying to block out the pounding in his head. 

Jack was staring critically at his brother, knowing at the back of his mind that he was ignoring everything that was being said. 

Conor on the other hand was busy ignoring his brother, moving around the house to avoid him that he started to become weak and all his muscles seemed to hurt all of a sudden. As he went into the hall, he slouched against the wall to hold him, only just having a mind set that he should sit down. As he pushed himself off the wall, however, black spots started to appear in his vision and he had to stop moving. In the background he could hear Jack calling his name but he paid no attention to him. 

As he shut his eyes, everything went black.


	2. What's wrong?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Conor wakes up and tells Jack what's wrong and what he's thinking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My apologies for updating so late! Uni has been so chaotic but thankfully I am finished for the summer so this work will be completed and I will be happy to work on any prompts that people may have!   
> To those who have been reading, thank you for your patience!

When Conor woke up, his head was pounding. He had his eyes opened slightly before closing them. He could hear a voice calling out to him. He tried to ignore it until he realised that it was the voice of his younger brother who sounded concerned. Jack's voice was sounding right through his brain and he finally opened his eyes fully and found Jack staring right back at him, eyes full of worry and concern.

"Thank God, Conor, you've been out for ages, what is going on?" Jack asked, frantically.

Conor blinked tiredly, still in a daze having not long woken up.

"What happened?" He asked his brother.

Jack's eyebrows shot up in surprise as he stared down at his brother.

"You fainted, that's what happened. You need to tell me what's going on." Replied Jack.

Conor decided that he needed to sit up but as he tried to move, he began to feel dizzy. Jack put his hand on his brother's shoulder to keep him still, worried that he wasn't 100% alright. When the dizziness left, Conor sat up again and with the help of Jack, slowly stood up and walked to the living room to sit down on the sofa. Jack let Conor sit down before heading to the kitchen to make some tea. When he returned, he placed the tea in front of Conor on the table and sat next to his brother. They sat in silence for a while until Conor spoke through the silence.

"I'm sorry."

Jack turned to look at his brother.

"Why are you sorry?"

Conor remained quiet and so did Jack hoping that his brother would answer him.

"Nothing is working. Nothing is going in the direction that I want it to." Conor said, staring at the cup of tea in front of him.

"What's not working?" Jack asked.

"Everything. When I get the chance to do something, there's always someone there to drag you down. Saying your nothing and that you will be nothing. That my music isn't the best and there is always someone out there that is better than me." Conor quietly said, tears gathering in his eyes. 

"You need to ignore them, Conor. You can't let people get to you." Jack advised.

"It's been happening for so long though. There is always someone who has to be negative. It's like they don't want me to be happy. I've been trying so hard with new songs, with the new album, but its not working." Conor said, tears slowly starting to run down his face.

Jack looked at his brother in shock as his words appeared to make sense. If he was working so hard on the album, it could explain why he passed out. He was running himself into the ground.

"Conor. Have you been working too hard, is that why you collapsed? You haven't been taking care of yourself have you?" Jack asked, sounding frightened for his brother's welfare.

Conor turned to look his brother in the eye, looking completely destroyed.

"I'm sorry." He said and broke down in front of his brother sobbing.

Jack wrapped his arms around his big brother and pulled him towards his chest, running his hand over his back in an effort to try and calm him. He had no idea how his brother had been feeling recently and now he knew the extent of the problem, he was determined to help his oldest sibling. When Conor eventually calmed down, he pushed himself away from Jack and rubbed at his eyes trying to hide his tear stained face. Jack picked up Conor's cup of tea and handed it to his brother, turning to face him also so that they could look each other in the eye.

"I'll help you through this, we'll do this together. You don't need to hide from me. I don't think you're nothing."

Conor gave a small smile and started sipping on his tea. Deep down he knew that his brother could help him with his feelings.

He just didn't know if he could ignore everyone else.


	3. I'll Always Be There

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack helps Conor overcome his feelings of self esteem.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally finished! Apologies for the late updating but this is my first story with more than one chapter! Please feel free to send in any prompts you may have!

Once Conor had finished his cup of tea, Jack sent him to bed to sleep off his worries. He was determined that he was going to help his brother through his issues of confidence. He brought out his laptop and looked through Conor's social media and videos to see what people had been saying. Looking at some of the comments, it made his blood boil. When Conor had collapsed, Jack thought in the back of his mind that it had been jet lag from his previous trip as he was known for not looking after himself and usually went away again a couple of days later still not feeling 100%. As Jack continued to look back through past comments, he knew that Conor wouldn't forget about every comment and that there would always be someone out there who was negative. He was determined however, that he would make his brother feel a little bit better.

It was a couple of hours later when Conor woke up and reluctantly agreed that his brother could call for a take away so they could eat together, seeing as the younger Maynard couldn't cook and had hardly anything in the house to use. Once the meal arrived, they sat in comfortable silence just eating away.

"Those comments will never go away." Jack said, breaking the silence.

Conor tensed up slightly.

"There will be someone out there who will always support you." He continued earnestly.

Conor turned to face his brothers, tears clouding his eyes.

"I know. It's just so hard seeing or hearing those comments, people being so negative." He replied shakily. 

Jack put his hand on his brother's shoulder.

"You'll be fine." He said.

They continued to eat their meal in silence before Jack suggested that they went out for a walk. They went along by the river just taking in the air and each other's company. Conor was just happy not to be cramped in a recording studio and have a little bit of time with his younger brother. When the two returned to the flat, Jack brought out his laptop and made his brother sit down on the couch where he sat down beside him. Whilst he had been going through comments about Conor earlier, although he had seen some really negative comments, he had also noticed some nice and positive ones too. So he decided it was time to show his brother that there was still support out there for him. He went through Conor's social media page showing him positive comments before they listened to some of Conor's favourite songs and let him look at the positive messages too. When Jack thought that Conor had seen enough he placed the laptop down on the table.

"For every negative comment there will always be a positive one to balance it out. You just have to decide what you're going to pay attention to." Jack told his brother.

Conor looked at Jack and completely broke down again as the words of his brother were swimming in his head. Jack wrapped his arms around his brother and just held him like he did before. When Conor was finished, he pulled away from his brother to wipe his eyes.

"Since when did you turn into a motivational speaker?" He asked as he choked on a laugh.

Jack laughed slightly.

"Maybe Mum, who knows?" He replied. 

Conor had eventually calmed down and looked at his brother again, eyes serious.

"Thank you for making me see sense. I won't always be able to ignore people but I can just focus on what I can do." Conor said.

Jack nodded and raised a hand to ruffle Conor's hair before his older sibling batted his hand away as they laughed at each other.

Over the next few days, Conor continued to stay with Jack before he went off to LA again. They both kept each other company with Jack making sure that his brother ate and slept well enough whereby he knew deep down that it wouldn't happen once Conor left London as he would overwork. He would make the best of it though. A couple of days later, the two were standing in Heathrow Airport waiting for Conor to catch his flight. Jack had insisted on going even though it was a really early morning flight. They kept each other company for a while before Conor's flight was called through to security.

"Thank you for everything. I really mean it." Conor told his brother.

Jack shrugged.

"I didn't want you to dwell on things. I just want you to be happy." He said.

Conor took a deep breath knowing that he had to leave his brother if he was to catch his plane on time.

"I need to go." He said regretfully.

"I know." Replied Jack.

"Come here." Conor said.

Jack wrapped his arms around his brother's neck as he felt arms go around his waist. They stood for a moment and Jack whispered into his brother's ear.

"Don't worry about anyone's opinion. Just focus on your work and remember to look after yourself."

Jack felt a nod against his shoulder and he let out a sigh before the brothers pulled apart. Conor put his bag over his bag and placed a hand on his brother's shoulder.

"I'll call you when I get there." 

"Don't worry about the time either. I don't want you worrying." Jack said seriously.

Conor smiled a little at his brother.

"Goodbye little brother." 

"Goodbye big bro."

With that, Conor left his brother and made his way to security. Jack was left standing praying that his brother would be alright.

He missed him already.


End file.
